A decade ago, Rwanda became an environmental pioneer by banning plastic bags and packaging – inspiring other African nations to follow suit.
More Eco-at-Africa: http://www.dw.com/en/tv/eco-at-africa/s-32686

In India, the city of Mumbai has introduced a ban on single-use plastic. Regular offenders face a three-month jail sentence and high fines. Environmentalists have hailed the measure, but many question how it is to be implemented.
Want to stop plastic pollution? Take a hike - https://p.dw.com/p/30iit
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@HaileyBright tweets: Plastic or Paper? LA's proposal to ban both is the strictest to date
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TRANSCRIPT:
Uh, I'll take plastic / Did you bring your own? / Go, go, go! Get on the fucking ground! / What? / Get on the ground! / I just wanted- / This is a sting, Motherfucker! You didn't bring your own bag? That do you think this is, 1950? / You have bags don't you? / What is wrong with you? / Sweetheart, they don't even give you a chair! / No, they make me stand all day all night! / Why would you do this to me and my family -our family! / They call me plastic boy. / In jail, they call you that? / Well, well, well, if it ain't plastic boy. / I was wondering if I could use the weights. / You wanna use these weights? / Yeah / Well, plastic boy, you wanna use these weights? / Yeah, I just need something to do / You gotta suck my pee-pee off. / ugghhh / Hey, is that plastic boy over there? / Ohh yeah. / My wee-wee needs some shining / Yeah, shine my wee-wee up and shine his wee-wee up too. / Hey, plastic boy. / Ahuh / Why don't you come put your mouth on my ding-dong? / Why can't you guys just use a word like dick or something? / Hey, Plastic boy, I got a corn-on-the-cob that needs buttering up. / What do you mean by that? / I mean butter up my corn-on-the-cob! / Oh, okay! / And suck my dick!
plastic bag ban

Aaron Weil, Environment America, joins Thom Hartmann. On Tuesday - California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 270 - which imposes a statewide ban on plastic bags at grocery stores - pharmacies - and convenience stores. The ban - which will start going into effect in July of 2015 - is the first of its kind anywhere in the nation - and is the culmination of a years-long fight led by Golden State environmental activists.

Inspired by “The OceanCleanUp”-founder Boyan Slat and his TEDx talk in Delft, Julian Baehr started his research on the impact of our society’s plastic pollution with focus on micro plastics. He came up with an idea on how to combine the requirements of the modern cosmetic industry with a sustainable, future-orientated way to ban conventional plastics from personal hygiene products.
Born and raised in Hamburg, 21-year old Julian moved to Münster a couple of years ago to start his pharmaceutical studies. At early age, Julian already started to get more and more fascinated by natural phenomenons, biological diversity and oceanographic science. 2010 he spent six months in New Zealand and South-Easy Asia. However, during a diving trip in Thailand he got confronted with some of the worlds largest ecological disasters, the environmental plastic pollution. Back in Germany, inspired by “The OceanCleanUp”-founder Boyan Slat and his TEDx talk in Delft, Julian started his reseach on the impact of our society’s plastic pollution with focus on micro plastics.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

BERLIN, Germany (WKRC) -- In Berlin, environmentalists used a world record attempt as an opportunity to take a stand against the use of plastic bags.
The group chained together 30,000 plastic bags as a sign of excessive use of every day items in our society.
People from all ages gathered together to create the world-record attempt chain.
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An explosive report from the Global Warming Policy Foundation reveals that efforts to recycle plastic are a major cause of the marine litter problem. The report, written by public health expert Dr Mikko Paunio, sets out the case for incinerating waste rather than trying to recycle it.
* Most of the plastic waste comes from just a few countries, mostly in Asia and Africa.
* 25% is "leakage" from Asian waste management processes -- the rest is waste that has never been collected, but is simply thrown into rivers.
* But European countries ship inject huge quantities of waste into Asian waste management streams, ostensibly for recycling. As much as 20% -- millions of tons every year -- ends up in the oceans and will continue to do so.
* Since the Chinese banned waste imports at the start of the year, shipments have been diverted to other Asian countries with even weaker environmental controls.
* EU recycling is therefore a major contributor to marine waste and increasing recycling will therefore simply increase marine litter.
Author Dr Mikko Paunio says,
"It is clear that the European contribution to marine waste is a result of our efforts to recycle. However, several countries have already shown that they can reduce this contribution to near zero, by simply incinerating waste"
Despite this success, the EU is trying to redouble recycling efforts and to close down the incineration route, mistakenly believing that this will reduce carbon emissions. As Dr Paunio puts it,
"The effects look as though they will be appalling. We can expect a great deal more plastic to end up in the environment, and in the oceans in particular. If the EU was serious about its war against marine pollution it should consider banning the export of plastic recyclate rather than banning plastic straws or taxing incineration."

A ban on free, lightweight plastic bags that came into effect in most Australian states over the weekend, had some customers fly into bag rage. According to a survey by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association, of the 132 members that took part in the poll, 57 said they were abused by shoppers over the ban. Some customers threw their shopping on the floor, shouting abuse at staff, and one man even put his hands around a shop assistant's throat when he found out that he would not be getting free bags. "A male customer in the self-serve area swore loudly at a female worker," the union's assistant secretary Ben Harris told AFP news agency. "She provided him with some complimentary bags and apologized." :Plastic in oceans causing coral reefs to get sick, study says The shopper then made a mistake by scanning an item twice, but when the same worker came to help him, "he walked up behind her and put his hands around her throat," Harris said. Watch video 03:07 Now live 03:07 mins. Share 10 years on: Rwanda’s plastic ban Send Facebook Twitter google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/2urEV 10 years on: Rwanda’s plastic ban Dirty bags and 'money-grabbing scum' Staff also complained that some shoppers tried to use dirty bags containing "vomit, dirty nappies and rat feces," according to a union press release. Other shoppers vented their anger by shouting "money-grabbing scum" at staff or throwing food at them, according to the union survey. Single-use plastic bags are now banned in Western Australia, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) and the Northern Territory. : Plastic fantastic: Nigeria's carrier bag fashionistas Woolworths started its ban on June 20, charging 15 cents (11 US cents) for a reusable bag. After customers complained, it started offering them for free for a limited period so they could adjust to the new rules. Australia's ban is part of an international effort led by the UN to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022. More than 60 countries have so far taken steps to ban or reduce the use of some everyday plastic items. ng/msh (Reuters, AFP, AP) More Alternatives to single-use plastics Stop sucking Billions of plastic straws end up as waste. The European Union wants to ban these and other single-use plastics, which end up in rubbish dumps or in our oceans. But for those who just can’t stop sucking — like Marco Hort, who set a world record with 259 straws stuffed in his mouth — there are environmentally friendly alternatives. More Alternatives to single-use plastics Drink it, eat it Animals in the ocean often try to eat plastic straws. To protect the environment, you can now eat the straw yourself. The German startup Wisefood has developed an edible straw made from the leftovers of Germany’s apple juice production. Alternatively, you can also acquire a multiple-use straw made from metal, bamboo or glass.